Theft
by realtrashwriting
Summary: University/College AU: "I'm not stalking you, exactly, it's just that you accidentally put my notebook in your bag and I'm waiting for a good moment to steal it back before you see the doodles of you I did in it."


**Disclaimer: I do not own Miraculous Ladybug**

* * *

**Theft**

* * *

Marinette Dupain-Cheng was_ not_ stalking Adrien Agreste. She absolutely was not. It might have_ looked_ like that - what with her scampering between classrooms and peering at him from around corners - but she wasn't stalking him at all. Alya had been skeptical when Marinette first told her of her predicament, citing numerous instances where Marinette_ had_ been watching Adrien a bit too closely, swooning after him whenever he so much as walked by, but this time was different. Marinette was not doing any of that to Adrien out of youthful infatuation.

She was watching him out of fear.

Because Adrien, sweet oblivious Adrien, was a thief that had taken what was most precious to her: her sketchbook.

It had been benign enough. They'd bumped into one another (not a surprise due to her clumsiness) and he'd been in such a rush to go to his next class that he'd scooped by the black sketchbook she had on her at all times. A simple mistake, as he had an agenda that looked just like it.

"Girl, are you kidding me?"

Marinette glared at her friend around the huge newspaper she was using to hide her face. Adrien was on the opposite side of the library, going through a variety of physics textbooks while she and Alya sat by the door. "This is_ serious_. If he opens that book and sees all those sketches of him, I'll be a goner!"

"Marinette, your major requires you to sketch and draw people too, not only clothes. I doubt he'll be weirded out even if he does see them. You're both in classes where sketching things are required. Hell, you're both in a handful of classes together. It'll work out!"

"Still like, Alya, not people!"

She sighed. "Why don't you just, I don't know, ask for it back?" At this, Alya straightened in her seat, a smile curling across her face, as if she knew something Marinette didn't. "This is the perfect opportunity, and I'm very sure that he wouldn't mind. Like, _very_ sure."

The notion was unthinkable. "You want me to_ talk_ to him? After that fiasco at our midterms?" Marinette shook that dangerously embarrassing memory out of her mind. "I'm not crazy, Alya."

Alya rolled her eyes.

"I'll just have to steal it back," Marinette was saying. "That's the only way to preserve my pride and hide my crush."

"Marinette, be reasonable," her friend begged. "It's just a sketchbook."

"I am being reasonable. Just-" she squeaked and hid behind the newspaper just as Adrien headed back out into the open, a book in his hand as he passed their table and headed towards the checkout. When she was sure that Adrien was occupied with the librarian, she found herself met with Alya's look of amusement.

"Just?"

"Just- I-" Adrien put his new textbook into his backpack and Marinette felt her heart stop. Had he noticed her sketchbook yet? "Oh my god, he's leaving."

"_Marinette_," warned Alya, but her friend was having none of it. She folded up her completely unsubtle newspaper and stuffed it into her bag. Other people in the library turned and looked at the noise she was causing, but she had only one goal: to get that sketchbook back before Adrien saw it.

She had been notably unsuccessful, considering that the events had transpired first thing in the morning, and it was now nearing 2 PM, where nobody in their right mind would still be trying to chase after the very handsome boy in their _Introduction to Still Life_ class. She probably should have given up, cut her losses, and decided to either give up her sketchbook or her pride.

But no, Marinette was stubborn. So she followed Adrien from class to class that day when she could, peering at his golden head as he wove his way through crowds, dodging the chiding eyes of her teacher when she was caught staring at him during _History of Art II_, just waiting for a chance to take back her book. At one point, she had even been called out in the middle of class to focus on her own work, a call that brought even his eyes back on her until she was a blushing mess.

It was just so difficult to get it back! He always locked his locker completely and brought his belongings with him to the washroom when he was alone in class. He certainly never left the bag unattended, as he would leave it in his best friend's ownership when he went to the bathroom or had to step away to take a call. She was pretty sure that his bag was one of those expensive travel bags that you couldn't cut through with a knife. No doubt his overprotective father would have been sure to get that for his son.

Not that she had thought of cutting through his bag. That would be more than just getting her book back. That would feel like actual theft, and it was unlikely to commend her in Adrien's eyes if he ever caught her.

If he caught her.

She slapped her cheeks lightly to try and rid herself of such a wild idea.

By the time 4:30 rolled around, Marinette was at a complete loss as to what to do. She was sketchbook-less and exhausted from her scheming. She should just give up while she could. She could just pretend that the sketchbook wasn't hers. That she had never done the hundreds of Adrien sketches while he was staring out the window, while he was in the middle of his fencing competition, while he was reading in the library. It could only assume that it sounded sort of creepy that a girl he hardly knew was drawing sketches of him, practicing her craft with the curve of his chin and the gentle falling of his hair.

"Marinette?" She snapped her head up, gaping as Adrien himself waved at her from down the hallway. He made his way over to her, smiling broadly all the while until he stopped in front of the bench she was sitting at.

"Hi, yes?" Her own voice sounded unfamiliar to her ears. She cleared her throat and tried to smile. "That's me."

"I know," he laughed. "You're the girl with all the answers in class whenever Mr. Chevron gives us a pop-quiz."

"You know who I am," she said, finding herself dizzyingly happy and out of breath all at once. Adrien _knew_ who she was.

"Yeah. And I realize that I took your sketchbook by accident." He placed the black, hardcover book into her hand. "Sorry about that."

Like the snap of her fingers, Marinette found her happiness draining out of her all at once. He knew it was her sketchbook, which meant that he had opened the book to see her name in its swirling looped scrawl on the first page, which meant that he had seen all those fashion sketches she'd done and the number of times she'd drawn the back of his head or looked at him from afar, which meant he knew that she was hopelessly in love with him and that she was a weirdo, which meant he would absolutely never speak to her ever again.

"What?"

"I really didn't mean to," he was saying. "It was an honest mistake. I'll be more careful. It must have been when I bumped into you this morning."

"It must have been," she agreed, heart sinking. She swallowed hard and tried to gather what remained of her strength. "You didn't – I mean, did you-"

Her voice failed her at the bright, innocent eyes he was looking at her with. "Yes, Marinette?"

"Nevermind." She felt herself wilt and sighed, unsure if she was more disappointed or relieved at this point. She pulled her bag onto her lap and rooted around in it for Adrien's agenda. "Here this is yours. I took yours by accident as well. Thank you, Adrien."

"Did you read my name in the book as well?" asked Adrien. His fingers were warm against hers as they brushed in the exchange. Marinette internally gave herself a gold star for not reacting too much.

"No, I, uh-, remember you from class. I didn't read anything."

"So you know me too," he said brightly, much more pleased than she expected him to be at the fact that she knew his name. "That's a good sign."

"Is it?"

"I hope so." Adrien smiled at her with wide, childish pleasure. "You wouldn't happen to be free after our exam next week, would you?"

"Which one?"

"You're right," he said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "We have more than one class together. And I mean the _Modern Design_ exam. The one with Professor Vogel."

"I'm free. It's my last exam."

"Mine too. My friend, Nino, is throwing a party that day, and it'd be great if you could come."

Her heart was going to give out on her, it really was. She had had a lovely 21 years of life. It was a shame this was the way she was going to go out, but it would be in such sheer bliss that Marinette couldn't find it in herself to care too much. "You want me to come to a party?"

His open expression wavered. "You don't have to come if you-"

"No!" said Marinette quickly and watched as Adrien's face fell as he misinterpreted her. She tried to recover quickly by saying, "I would love to come. I want to go. Yes, absolutely."

His brilliant smile was back on his face again, and Marinette nearly swooned on the spot to know that it was directed at her. "Great." He took a step back and slipped his backpack back onto his shoulders. "I'll see you at the exam then. I won't be on the test, though, so you should probably practice sketching something else until we finish the class," he added with a wink, leaving her jaw dropped as he retreated from her.

"_What?_"


End file.
